By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

With confirmation to host the 50th CARIFTA Games in 2023, the Bahamas’ 54-member team will return from Kingston, Jamaica, with second place with 17 medals, including four gold, at the top regional junior track and field competition.

Prime Minister Philip ‘Brave’ Davis and Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg accompanied Team Bahamas to the games over the weekend where the deal was sealed to bring the event to the Bahamas for the ninth time.

The previous times the three-day competition was staged here was in 1976, 1978, 1981, 1984, 1992, 2002, 2013 and 2018. Next year’s return of the event is expected to coincide with the Bahamas’ 50th Independence celebrations.

Guyana, which originally scheduled to host the games, will now host the 51st edition in 2024.

Jamaica, hosting the games in its return after the two-year hiatus because of COVID-19, picked up where they left off by clinching their 44th title and their 35th straight. The last time they lost was to the Bahamas in back-to-back victories in 1983 in Martinique and 1984 in the Bahamas.

Before their home crowd at the Independence Park in Kingston, Jamaica, in sweeping all eight relays, Jamaica posted a total of 97 medals, including 47 gold, 32 silver and 18 bronze.

The Bahamas, led by the sterling performances from world junior leader and national record holder Keyshawn Strachan and Dior-Rae Scott in the under-20 boys and under- 17 girls javelin and Curtis Mitchell in the under-20 boys 5,000m, got second place with four gold, six silver and seven bronze for a total of 17 medals.

Day three - medals (two gold, four bronze)

Southpaw Dior-Rae Scott inked her name in the record books as well as she tossed the under-20 girls javelin 146-feet, 2 1/.4- inches or 44.57 metres on her third attempt to claim the third gold for Team Bahamas as the final day of competition got underway on Monday morning.

Scott’s heave surpassed the games’ record of 140-9 (42.90m) that was established by Deandra Dottin of Barbados in 2007. Her teammate Kemera Strachan was hoping to join her big brother Keyshawn Strachan on the podium, but she fell short in fourth with 130-9 1/4 (39.86m).

In one of the few events, Jamaica didn’t get a medal as Kenika Casser got the silver with 140-7 1/4 (42.86m) and Suerena Alexander of Grenada got the bronze with 139-8 (42.57m).

Another gold came from Curtis Mitchell (5,000m) in a sensational sprint on the home stretch of the gruelling 12 1/2 laps as he powered 16:07.67 over Nicholas Power of Jamaica in 16:08.93.

Antoine Andrews got out to a quick start, but clipped the fourth flight of 10 hurdles and slipped to bronze in 13.91. Curacaos’ Matthew Sophie got the gold in 13.74 and Jamaica’s Demario Prince picked up the silver in 13.88.

Zoe Adderley, one of the youngest members of Team Bahamas, added a bronze medal when she cleared 37-6 3/4 (11.45m) in the under-17 girls triple jump. Teammate Lanaisha Lubin was fifth with 37-1 1/4 (11.31m).

A major mishap occurred in the under-20 girls’ 200m as Paige Archer surged from behind into second in lane seven, but slipped and fell about 20 metres from the finish. Quite disappointed she got up and walked across the line in 34.85.

However, as the games winded down with the 4 x 400m relays, the Bahamas got third in the under-17 girls’ division in 4:03.23 and the under-17 boys race in 3:21.35 and fourth in both the under-20 girls in 4:05.99 and the under-20 boys in 3:14.56.

Falling short of the podium on the final day were Quinton Rolle, who ended up fourth in the under-17 boys 110m hurdles in 15.61, Raywind Winder dropped to sixth place in the under-17 boys 800m in 2:02.76.

Nya Wright came back for fourth in the under- 17 girls 200m in 25.47, while 100m silver medallist Shatalya Dorsett didn’t advance to the final after she was disqualified in the semifinals. Tumani Skinner was sixth in 22.48 and Zion Campbell dropped off to fifth in 21.80 in the under- 20 boys 200m.

On the field, Shaunece Miller placed fourth in the under-20 girls high jump with 5-5 (1.65m), Sabriya Farquharson was fifth in the under-20 girls long jump with 17-11 3/4 (5.48m), Cailyn Johnson (99-5//30.31m) and Danielle Nixon (86-5/26.34m) were fifth and sixth respectively in the under-20 girls discus and Brandon Hutchinson was fifth in the under-20 boys triple jump with 47-5 3/4 (14.47m).

Day two - seven medals (1 gold, 5 silver, 1 bronze)

Following in the footsteps of his father and coach Brent Vanderpool, a past gold medallist, Brenden Vanderpool shined on Sunday night for the Bahamas as he soared to the gold medal in the under-20 boys pole vault with a leap of 14-3 1/4 (4.35m).

Versatile 14-year-old Kenny Moxey Jr, whose father and coach Kenny Sr also competed and won medals for the Bahamas in the past, was seventh with 11-3 3/4 (3.45m).

Vanderpool’s performance came as the Bahamas was successful in securing a pair of silver medals in the 4 x 100 metre relays that was dominated by Jamaica with a clean sweep of all four races, highlighted by World Junior and CARIFTA record.

The under-17 girls team of Jamiah Nabbie, Nia Wright, Koi Adderley and Shatalya Dorsett ran 47.13 for the silver, but was no match for Jamaica, who surged out front in 45.38.

And in the under-20 boys division, the Bahamas team of Zachary Evans, Zion Campbell, Keano Ferguson and Carlos Brown Jr got a silver in 40.41, while Jamaica did 39.15 for a new CARIFTA record, erasing their countries previous time of 39.38 to put the icing on the cake of their sweep.

In the under-17 boys division, the Bahamas team of Jonathan Rodgers, Philip Gray, Kumani Skinner and Ishmael Rolle was out of the mix from the start in lane one and had to settle for fifth in 43.80. Jamaica again dominated in 41.74 for the gold.

The Bahamas didn’t compete in the under-20 girls division that saw Jamaica’s quartet of Serena Cole, Tina Clayton, Brianna Lyston and Tia Clayton not only win another gold but they also smashed the world junior record of 43.27 that was set by Germany in 2017 by running 42.58.

In the under-20 boys octathlon, Lynden Johnson emerged as the silver medallist with 4,894 points behind Jamaica’s Kevin Brooks, who took the eight multiple event competition over the first two days with 4,942.

Wooslyn Harvey of the Turks and Cacaos won the bronze with 4,888.

Johnson did 10.95 in the 100m (872 pts), 6.03m in the long jump (593), 9.73m in the shot put (469 pts) and 400m in 50.45 (794 pts) for 2,728 at the end of day one to trail Brooks’ 2,839.

On the final day, Johnson clocked 15.27 in the 110m hurdles (817 pts); 1.56m in the high jump (434 pts); 40.97m in the javelin (456 pts) and faded to 5:18.31 in the 1,500m (459 pts) to complete the gruelling event.

Shimar Bain also came through with a silver when he clocked 52.83 in the under-20 boys 400m hurdles to trail Jamaica’s Roshawn Clarke, the gold medal winner in 50.68.

With just two competitors entered in the under-17 boys shot put, Nathaniel McHardy picked up the silver with a toss of 48-3 1/4 (14.71m). The gold went to Despira Wray of Jamaica with 50-4 3/4 (15.36m). Both of their performances came on their fifth tries. Jonathan Rodgers earned a bronze in the under-17 boys triple jump with his leap of 45-10 3/4 (13.99m) on his second attempt, while Jason Woodside fouled out of the competition. Jamaica got a 1-2 feat with Chevez Penn taking the gold with 48-0 (14.63m) and Euan Young getting the silver with 46-11 3/4 (14.32m).

Coming close to getting on the podium on Sunday was Quinton Rolle, who was fourth in the under-17 boys 400m hurdles in 55.66.

On the field, Jeani Morrison, who was fourth in the under-17 boys high jump with a leap of 6-0 3/4 (1.85m), Koi Adderley, who was fifth in the under- 17 girls long jump with 17-10 3/4 (5.45m), followed by Jamiah Nabbie, who was seventh with 17-8 3/4 (5.40m).

Day one - four medals (1 gold, 1 silver, two bronze)

Keyshawn Strachan needed just one throw to ink his name in the record books with his huge heave of 262-1 (79.89m) in the under-20 boys javelin for Team Bahamas’ first medal - a gold - on Saturday morning. On his first attempt, Strachan rewrote both his own national record of 257-11 (78.63m) he established last month and the CARIFTA record of 260-1 (78.28m) that was previously set by Anderson Peters of Grenada in 2016.

The towering 6-5 18-year-old Strachan passed his second attempt and scratched his third and final try. He missed the World Athletics’ qualifying standard of 85.00m for Eugene Oregon in July.

But the St John’s College 12th grader who is heading for Auburn University surpassed the standard again of 226-4 1/2 (69.00m) for the World Junior Under- 20 Championships in Cali, Colombia in August.

Nathaniel Zervos, the other Bahamian in the competition, was sixth with 178-1 (54.28m) on his second attempt. His opening mark was 169-5 (51.65) m and he scratched his third try. Trinidad & Tobago trailed Strachan for silver and bronze from Anthony Diaz (208-11 or 63.69m) and Dorian Charles (188-8 or 57.52m) respectively.

Terrell McCoy closed out the first session as she picked up the bronze in the under-17 girls shot put with her personal best of 43-1 (13.00m) on her fourth attempt. Teammate Annae Mackey was fourth with 40-7 (12.37m). Savianna Joseph of the British Virgin Islands got the gold with 44-5 1/4 (13.54m) and Jamaica’s Nastassia Burrell got the silver with 42-11 3/4 (13.10m).

At the close of the first day of competition, Team Bahamas had racked up more medals in the sprints as Grand Bahamian Shatalya Dorsett sped to the silver in the under-17 girls 100m in 11.80, following British Virgin Island’s Adaejah Hodge, who crossed the finish line in 11.29.

Zachary Evans got a bronze in the under-20 boys’ 100m in 10.45 behind a 1-2 sweep from Jamaica’s DeAndre Daley in 10.23 and Bouwahjgie Nkrumie in 10.28.

After a review, team officials indicated that Ishmael Rolle was elevated from fourth to bronze in the under-17 boys 100m in 10.77 as he changed spots with St Vincent’s Keo David, who was given 10.82.

However, the medal table didn’t reflect the change in the race that saw Antigua & Barbuda’s Dwayne Flemming win the gold in 10.72 and Jamaica’s Gary Card got the silver in 10.75.

In other finals on the track, Curtis Mitchell got fourth place in the under- 20 boys 1,500m in 4:01.70; Grand Bahamian Erin Barr was ninth in the under-17 girls 1,500m in 5:00.28; Zion Miller (49.36) and Berkley Munnings (49.63) were fourth and fifth respectively in the under-17 boys 400m; Javonya Valcourt was seventh in the under-20 girls 400m in 55.09; Antoine Andrews was sixth in the under-20 boys 400m in 48.35 and Andrew Brown didn’t finish and Paige Archer was seventh in the under-17 girls 100m in 11.85.

And on the field, Robert Stuart placed fifth in the under-17 boys long jump with 21-4 3/4 (6.52m) and D’Angelo Collie was tenth with 19-2 3/4 (5.86m); Stephan Farquharson got sixth in the under-20 boys high jump with 6-2 3/4 (1.90m); Koi Adderley was seventh in the under-17 girls high jump with 4-11 (1.50m); Jethro Baptiste was eighth in the under-17 boys discus with 140-2 (42.72m).